Drone School Teaches Technology to Local Fire Departments

Some drones are used for warfare. Others are toys for kids. But these unmanned aerial vehicles could help save lives.

“There’s quite a few applications that are very useful for emergency services,” said Jason Fisch, president and founder of Fisch Solutions.

Drones can help to survey burned buildings from above and aid in search and rescue efforts after a hurricane, giving departments extra and more advanced viewpoints in an emergency.

“They can see heat signatures of people or of a fire,” said Fisch, who started as a volunteer firefighter at 16.

Fisch’s company works with emergency services personnel to outfit them with new technology. He partnered with Skyfire technology to conduct a drone flight school at Cronomer Valley Firestation in the town of Newburgh and show them the possibilities of the technology in the field — and their use in big emergencies, like fires.

“On the ground, it’s very hard to see what’s going on, but when you have a large scale disaster such as that, you get that aerial observation. So to see a top bird’s eye view of what’s going on, being able to transmit that to the crews, which they can make better decision of damage assessment as well as active scene incidents,” explained Fisch.

“Seeing it is the key. It’s seeing everything,” said Juan Guzman, who does IT and communications for the Cronomer Valley Fire Department. “And technology is helping us see things that we haven’t been able to see before.” [Click for More]